James looked at the bags he carried in both hands. He’d brought a big hiking bag for more grocery supplies as well. “I don’t like to drive,” he said.
“I can understand that,” the man said.
James knew what had happened to his son. To Bethany’s son. Although it wasn’t like it was a secret, James fumed.
“We’ve met before,” James said sternly. He thought they had, anyway.
“Have we?” the man cocked his head. “I can’t recall if so.”
Bethany rolled her eyes into a smile. “James, this is Sam Ellison. Sam, you know James, my ex-husband.”
“Of course.” Sam stepped forward and shook James’s hand.
James wanted to shrink to the size of an ant and scuttle away.
“James, what is all this stuff for?” Bethany finally asked.
James felt her exasperation. But it wasn’t his fault that they’d run into one another. “I’m throwing a Christmas party,” he said. “For the people in my grief therapy group.”
“How sweet,” Sam said. “I’m sure theGazetteis covering your little soiree. We always liked little puff pieces like that.”
James remembered now: Sam Ellison had been the editor at the newspaper for many years, before he’d quit out of the blue.
“How is your retirement?” James asked. His cheeks burned with rage as he recognized that Sam’s retirement probably had a lot to do with his love for Bethany and their decision to build a life together.But why can’t they make a life somewhere else?James wondered.
“Not bad.” Sam laughed. “They can’t stop calling me up there to ask me questions, but I hope they get it worked out soon.” He explained to Bethany that Carmen’s daughter was trying her hand at managing the paper. “But she’s out of practice,” he said.
“She’s really good at it,” James countered. He felt a flume of anger.
“Sure. She will be,” Sam declared.
After a moment’s pause, Bethany stuttered, “We’d better let you get on your way.”
“Of course,” James said, recognizing this as a backhanded way of forcing him away from them. “Have a good one.” With that, he hurried around the corner before collapsing against a brick wall. There were stars in his eyes. He could hardly breathe.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening, James entered a fugue state of sorts. Although his hands were busy setting up for the Christmas party, sifting flour, stirring batter, and so on, his mind was elsewhere, thinking about his wife Bethany and hernew boyfriend, Sam. In all the years since Bethany had left, not once had James imagined what it would be like to run into her. He hadn’t imagined what they’d say to one another. He hadn’t imagined what it would feel like to see her with someone else.
Of course, James still loved his ex-wife. How could he not? Falling out of love with her hadn’t been the reason for their split. They’d been robbed of their happy life.
Although James’s crush on Elena was becoming full-blown, something that took up so much of his heart, he couldn’t escape the crippling feeling that his wife had moved on with someone else.
The first guests to arrive at the house for his party were five minutes early. When he opened the door, he found Steven, Gina, and the younger woman who’d spilled the coffee on the floor the other week, Stacy. He greeted them as warmly as he could and beckoned for them to come in. Their smiles were stiff as they handed over platters of Christmas cookies and looked around. It took him a second to realize why everything felt off.
“Of course!” he cried. “The music.”
James hurried to the speaker system to set up the Christmas playlist he’d made on another, happier day. Steven demanded that he try one of his chocolate-peanut butter cookies, and James did so happily and sat next to Gina on his sofa. After a stressful afternoon alone with his own thoughts, he was grateful to listen to others talking.
“You worked hard,” Gina was saying to him, pointing at the table on the far end of the room, which was laden with Christmas foods.
“There’s more where that came from,” James said. “There’s stuff in the oven as well. Pizza. Mozzarella sticks. Nachos.”
Steven let out a wolf whistle. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
A half hour later, James's living room was full of revelers. He found himself bopping from conversation to conversation, fromthe kitchen to the living room and back again. His smile felt permanently glued to his face, regardless of how uncomfortable it was. Elena hadn’t arrived yet, and he was momentarily worried that she wouldn’t show. Maybe she’d gotten held up at work. Maybe Carmen had taken a turn for the worse.
But then, the doorbell rang, and James opened it to find the beautiful mother-daughter duo, dressed in their sleek winter coats, their dark hair covered in snow.
“Welcome!” he cried, guiding them into the foyer. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
